“The Meaning of Conspiracy. Plot and Mystery in Communication” ist eine internationale Fachtagung, die in Zusammenarbeit zwischen der Professur Kulturen romanischer Länder, Universität Potsdam, und dem C.I.R.Ce–Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca sulla Comunicazione, Universität Turin, Italien, organisiert wird. Die Tagung konzentriert sich auf die Untersuchung sprachlicher Argumentationsstrategien, kognitiver und bildsemiotischer Konzepte und persuasiver Mechanismen von Verschwörungstheorien, die in Zeiten der europäischen Krise aufkommen und medial verbreitet werden.
So wird in Turin ein Dialog nicht nur zwischen europäischen Kulturkreisen, sondern auch zwischen Experten der Verschwörungstheorieforschung aus Süd- und Nordeuropa geführt. Gefördert wird die Tagung, die sich an ein Konzeptualisierungstreffen in Potsdam anschließt, durch das DAAD-Programm “Hochschuldialog mit Südeuropa”.
Die Tagung wird organisiert von Prof. Dr. Eva Kimminich, Prof. Dr. Massimo Leone, Dr. Simona Stano und Julius Erdmann. Als Experten sprechen unter anderem: Umberto Eco, Maurizio Ferraris, Paolo Heritier, Peppino Ortoleva, Walter Quattrociocchi, Giuseppe Tipaldo, Ugo Volli, u.v.a..

Programm

Monday, June 8, 2015
Sala Principi D’Acaja, Rettorato, via Po 17, Torino

16.00 – Welcome speech | MASSIMO FERRARI and RENATO GRIMALDI, Directors of the Department of Philosophy and Educational Sciences, University of Turin

16.15 – Introduction | EVA KIMMINICH, University of Potsdam

Chair: MASSIMO LEONE, University of Turin

17.00 – “Collective Dynamics in The age of Misinformation” | WALTER QUATTROCIOCCHI, IMT Institute for Advanced Studies, Lucca

17.30 – “One Hoax to Rule Them All, One Hoax to Find Them, One Hoax to Bring Them All and in Pseudoscience Bind Them” | GIUSEPPE TIPALDO, University of Turin

18.00 – Discussion
20.00 – Dinner

Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Sala Principi D’Acaja, Rettorato, via Po 17, Torino

Chair: EVA KIMMINICH, University of Potsdam

9.30 – “The Shifting Significance of Conspiracy Theory” | MICHAEL BUTTER, University of Tübingen

10.00 – “Performing and Communicating Conspiracy Theories: Stalinist Show Trials in Eastern Europe during the Cold War” | UTE CAUMANNS, University of Hamburg

10.30 – Discussion

Chair: JULIUS ERDMANN, University of Potsdam

11.15 – “Unreal Realities: An Approach to Conspiracy Theories Based on Sociology of Knowledge” | ANDREAS ANTON, Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health, Freiburg

11.45 – “Who Really Profits from Europe’s Islamization?: Conspiracy Theories in German Right Wing Contexts” | AMIR DIZDAREVIĆ and SAMAN HAMDI, University of Potsdam

12.15 – Discussion

Chair: SAMAN HAMDI, University of Potsdam

15.00 – “About Truthing and Courting: Fragments and Patterns of Social Construction of Reality in Rhetorics, Media and Images” | EVA KIMMINICH, JULIUS ERDMANN, MAREEN BELLOFF and JENNY ZIEMS, University of Potsdam

16.30 – Discussion

Chair: GABRIELE MARINO, University of Turin

17.15 – “Conspiracy Dress or le Degré Zéro de la Mode. Notes about the Importance of Being Invisible” | ELEONORA CHIAIS, University of Turin

17.45 – “It’s all President’s Fault. Tricks, Conspiracies, Corruptions in American TV Series Set in the White House: Homeland and Scandal” | FEDERICA TURCO, University of Turin

18.15 – “Tell me what you do not eat, and I will tell you who you are. Food, health and conspiracy theories” | SIMONA STANO, University of Turin

18.45 – Discussion

Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Sala Principi D’Acaja, Rettorato, via Po 17, Torino

Chair: SIMONA STANO, University of Turin

9.30 – “Anti-Semitism, Anti-Zionism and the Crisis” | UGO VOLLI, University of Turin

10.00 – Conclusion of works | MASSIMO LEONE, University of Turin

10.30 – Discussion

Chair: UGO VOLLI, University of Turin

11.15 – Roundtable | UMBERTO ECO, MAURIZIO FERRARIS, PAOLO HERITIER, PEPPINO ORTOLEVA

Cavallerizza Reale, via Verdi 9, Torino
16.00 – Honoris Causa to UMBERTO ECO